November 6, 2013

Suped Up: Soul Resurrected by Keri Lake

As Wrath’s fiercest son, Logan carries the scars of fifty years spent in the most dreaded prison of the underworld, for a sin he’d kill to keep secret. Enduring decades of gruesome torture has left Logan feared by and detached from others, until a female Alexi’s blood resurrects his soul from death and, with it, the pleasures he’s been denied for so long.

Plagued by shame of her own, Calla is drawn to the ruthless demon, Logan, whose insatiable craving for her touch rouses buried passions and, for once, leaves her feeling desired.

A dark and dangerous evil has been reawakened, however, and when Calla is drawn too close to its breeding grounds, Logan vows to summon the violence of Wrath in order to keep her safe. First, though, Calla must save him from a past riddled with deceit and corruption … but only if she can accept the consequences of unveiling a grisly truth.

There are SO MANY reasons why I'm giving SOUL RESURRECTED by Keri Lake a Suped up rating. These babies are about 500 pages long each but it reads like your average length novel due to it's MacLaren like pace. There's never a dull moment, even when the Sons are just sitting around talking shiznit, you better pay attention because those little convos are significant. Personally I don't care if it's as long as the bible because that means I get lots of QT with my boy, Gavin. I swear, every time the eldest Wrath is in a scene, my heart goes pitter patter! Swoon!

Essentially every Sons of Wrath novel is a paranormal romance, there's a lot of noise going on in the background but the focal point is (so far) a Son's Savidon or that time where he's "forced" (I use this loosely) to choose a mate for life. And you know that these preternatural creatures take mating and all that MINE! stuff seriously. So expect a lot of sexual tension, rabid possessiveness, emotional tug of wars, skillful seductions and a lot of sexy hip gyrations thrown in. SOUL RESURRECTED is Logan's mating call and if you haven't read Soul Avenged yet, Logan died back there and was resurrected via Calla's blood. This forced a bond between the two and the crux of the situation is separating real attraction from the connection brought by the blood exchange.

It takes incredible strength and bravery to reveal your true self to others. Vulnerability and weakness are two separate entities, miss Calla. Where one exposes you to pain, the other allows you to be consumed by it.

Logan is a troubled hero, not only is his history messed up, which qualifies him as a tortured soul, he's also emotionally unavailable. His reticence towards Calla was quite entertaining to read because it's futile. As a reader, you know that it's only a matter of time before Calla will brings Logan's proud demon a$$ to his knees in worship of her. And that she did spectacularly with extra honey on top. But don't let Calla's virginal innocence fool you as she's a haunted soul herself. This chick is an Alexi, a warrior, and she's got revenge on her mind and more than capable of carrying it out. Watching these two's journey to mate-dom was enthralling because of the check and balance that happened along the way. The emotional development of said journey was consuming especially the parts where Logan and Calla allowed themselves to be vulnerable and kissed the boo-boos away.

That's essentially the romance part of the equation. As for the paranormal and urban fantasy aspect, the world building is masterful, the pace heart pounding and the superhuman feats and mishaps exhilarating. I also love that we're not barraged by a slew of Supes in the process. Each kind is infused carefully into the plot and each camp has a role to play in the overall plot. For SOUL RESURRECTED you'll have Nephilims and werewolves to contend with on top of our demon heroes and their incubi/succibi friends. The werewolves in particular I liked because they're wild cards and from the looks of it, they'll be around to stir thing up some more shiznit in the future books.

Sons of Wrath as a series is electric. KLake brilliantly wove this spectacular story with lots of colorful threads that perfectly complement each other. You get a tapestry so rich with extraordinary characters with vibrant personal stories coupled with awesome adrenalin rushes brought by great conflicts, she'll make a junkie out of you. I've read a lot of paranormal romance and urban fantasies and before you jump into the conclusion that Soul Avenged and SOUL RESURRECTED is another "next BDB", well you're wrong. KLake may have given us another story about brotherhood but she gave it her own spin and flavor it's a solid and strong series of it's own. The ratings don't lie, Soul Avenged and SOUL RESURRECTED are delectable chunks of PNR/UF goodness you'll be crazy not get your hands on.

The dark room swallowed Logan, as he lay sprawled on his bed—just as he’d been left after ditching his date with death. A stomach-turning sensation of thickened skin and tingles swathed his body, closing in on him, phantom sensations crawling over his flesh that kept him awake. Every five minutes or so, he willed an arm or a leg to move. No go.

Shadows danced across the wall on the occasions that one of the Catatones guarding the mansion passed through the floodlight below his window. He focused on them only because his neck had been propped in that direction and he had no choice. Good thing, though. She had been assigned to watch over him and slept somewhere beyond his periphery, the reminder heating his blood every time her sleepy moan drifted across the room.

The fury could’ve split him right down the middle.

Her blood ran through him—pumping in his veins, feeding his heart, keeping him alive.

Calla’s.

The woman who’d gotten him stabbed with Demortis, the only element capable of taking down a demon, now swam through his body as the only element capable of saving him. Her blood. Pure. Probably the closest he’d ever come to being righteous.

The irony was enough to leave him scratching his own eyeballs out of his head—that is, if he could reach the damn things. Like a bitch slap from the gods, who probably sat around drinking beers over the shit, poking fun at him.

The side effect of returning from the dead?

Feeling like the fucking dead.

Logan tightened his lip, wishing he could kick his own ass for being so stupid. Not like he’d had to save her or anything. Hell, being a demon meant being the exception to human rules.

And being a son of Wrath meant never having to play by any species’ rules.

Yet for some reason, one lodged so deep inside his brain he couldn’t even begin to explain, he’d felt the need to intervene. Not so much for her sake, but because the little prick trying to rape her had taken a jab at the psychopath buried in Logan’s bones. Taunted him.

Then finally tripped his kill-switch.

Yeah, that’s what Logan told himself, anyway, because no other excuse could possibly justify why he couldn’t stir a single muscle in his body for anything having to do with her—Calla. The girl they’d picked up at some underground party, so high on Shine she’d have probably let every one of the brothers have a go at her if they’d been the ravaging bastardly types.

Lucky for her they weren’t.

“Should’ve walked away,” he muttered, his voice the only part of his body he could control.

A zing of pain shot through Logan’s feet, flexing them into an unnatural, paralyzed position. “Ah, shit!” Hadn’t his feet been numb just seconds ago?

Not even forcing his muscles to relax shook the sting away, one like a strike to the level of his bones, as if they shattered with impact.

He held his breath and clenched his teeth while the pain crept up his leg. “Motherfucker!” He spoke past gritted teeth, keeping his voice low to keep from rousing his babysitter, but damn, his back arched like one of those tetanus-infected bastards, his eyes squinting so hard they could’ve popped backward into his brain.

Black smoke curled behind his lids, and a deep laughter mocked him as the agony reached his spine. Trembling in the bed, Logan clamped his mouth shut and allowed the convulsions to run through him.

In silence.

He’d known pain—gut-turning, put-me-out-of-my-fucking-misery pain. Nothing compared to what wracked him at that moment, as if nightmares could invade the body and inflict injury. The burn, like molten lava oozing in his veins, seeped into his every cell, searing him from the inside. Sweat trickled down his temple at the same time as a chill burst deep inside his bones and swept through his limbs, leaving behind a wake of nausea.

That black smoke carried the familiar sensation he’d felt once or twice in his life—from the quick witted son of a bitch that brought the toughest demon males to their knees: absolute death. Stygius. The place in the underworld from where no soul ever returned.

With shallow panting breaths, he allowed the blackness worming its way into his mind to take over as something dark and wicked laid claim.

Ok, so Keri gave me Soul Avenged to read / review and I started reading it but I got bogged down with a whole pile of other stuff. So now I must pick it up again. I knew it was a long book and I love my BDB lads. It came down to one head and a mass of reads to get through, then I think I forgot. So I must write a schedule out again. I never not have a book in my hand at night time. Glad you suped both books up!! Woot!!